Former Lok Sabha MP A K Roy passes away

Former Lok Sabha MP and founder of Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC), A K Roy passed away at a hospital here on Sunday.

Roy, a bachelor, was 90, party sources said.

The veteran Left leader and the chief patron of the CITU Jharkhand State Committee was admitted to the Central Hospital here on July 8 following age-related problems and he died of multi-organ failure, doctors said.

He was one of the founders of the Jharkhand movement. The three-time MP from Dhanbad was also the founder of Jharkhand's regional party Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC).

Roy won the Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat in 1977, 1980 and 1989, besides representing Sindri seat in Bihar Assembly in 1967, 1969 and 1972.

Along with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Shibu Soren and former MP late Binod Bihari Mahto, Roy began Jharkhand movement demanding a separate state from Bihar in 1971. Jharkhand became a separate state on November 15, 2000.

Roy was born in Sapura village, now in Bangladesh. His father Shivendra Chandra Roy was an advocate. He completed MSc in Chemistry from Calcutta University in 1959 and worked for two years in a private firm. Later, he joined PDIL Sindri In 1961.

He actively participated in Bihar Band agitation on August 9, 1966, and was arrested and sent to jail. As he opposed the then government, the Projects and Development India Limited (PDIL) management dismissed him from his job.

Roy entered trade union and started agitation in the Sindri Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI) and against private colliery owners. In 1967, he contested on the CPI (M) ticket from Sindri Assembly seat of Bihar and won.

But he resigned from CPI(M) and formed his Marxist Coordination Committee.

Roy was called a 'political saint' by his associates and followers as his bank account always showed 'zero balance' till he breathed his last.

Roy lived in the house of a party worker at Pathaldih area, 17 km away from Dhanbad, for the past decade. Earlier, he lived in his party office at Temple Road at Purana Bazaar here. "He was the first MP in the country who opposed the increase in perks and pension proposals in 1989 for MPs, though his proposal was defeated," Anand Mahto, a former MCC MLA, said.